Tanner is a lifelong seeker, storyteller, and teacher whose path winds through wilderness trails, martial arts dojos, and deep journeys of the spirit. At twenty-one, he thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, an experience that reshaped his young adulthood and ignited a lifelong hunger for meaningful adventure. Thirty years later, after surviving a near-death illness that left him unable to continue his life's work, he found healing and transformation through the ceremonial use of ayahuasca. His memoirs-End to Ending and End to Beginning-bookend these two defining journeys.In both works, Tanner explores what it means to step away from the life we're handed and move toward the one our soul demands. With an eye for poetic detail and a reverence for hard-earned truth, his writing illuminates the path from breakdown to rebirth.Tanner is the founder and head instructor of Unity Martial Arts, a community dojo that weaves together Cuong Nhu, Brazilian Jiujitsu, and Tai Chi to develop power, presence, and deep connection. His teaching and writing share a common thread: transformation through discipline, vulnerability, and the courage to walk into the unknown. He lives and teaches in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife and two sons, where he continues to explore the sacred space between endings and beginnings.